Update of this Week

25 miles down this week! I felt great on every run until today, and that's the reason I'm adding another entry for the week. I woke up early this morning to make sure I got breakfast in (Cin. Life w/2% milk) Right before I took off, I chased down some Sunkist Gummy Snacks for a 100 calorie boost, and brought along a TriFruit GU just in case I needed it. Of course, I brought sportsdrink with me and was running a route that passed water fountains. The forecast today was the 70's up until around 11-12, where the temp would gradually climb to around 85 degrees. (and the humidity is climbing)

Well.....the forecast was incorrect. When I arrived at the TART trail, my vehicle read the outside temp as 76 degrees, and where I parked is only about 5 miles from my house. The first 4.5 miles of the run went without problems. It was hot and getting hotter, but I was downing fluid like I should and I took my GU at the halfway point. I went through a Nathans hand bottle of Sportsdrink, and probably 2-2.5 additional bottles of water, although its probably closer to two. I got to the point where I didn't want any more water, and was just putting it in my mouth and spitting it out to keep my mouth and lips wet. (salt crusted everywhere of course!) Granted, my running times were significantly slower then usual on purpose (about 1-1.5 min per mile slower) but I was doing the work. The last 4.5 miles is where problems started. I noticed that the temperature was significantly warmer then was forecast (it ended up around 83 at that point) and no matter how much water I was taking in, I noticed I was feeling worse and worse. I got about a mile from my car and noticed my hands and forearms had started swelling. Now for me, when this starts to happen I'm typically under hydrated or its too hot to really be running. Maybe its an electrolyte imbalance, or something else...all I know is when it starts to happen, I better be about done!

My whole point in the thread is to make sure you listen to your body. If you need to drink, by all means drink. Make sure you have adequate water or fluids along your route, and if your body is hinting to you that you should stop (dizziness, numbness, cessation of sweating, feeling ill etc) its probably a good time to stop or at least severely reduce the intensity of your run. (I would say stop....but of course that isn't what I did today) The difference with me today was I never experienced cessation of sweating or feeling real ill....I just didn't feel very good. Its important to stop before heat exhaustion or heat stroke set in. Once that starts to happen, your looking at a problem if your far from your vehicle or home.

I have included link about heat exhaustion, heat stroke and heat cramps for any ones review. It better to be safe then sorry!